“What I think is a reason for concern is that the science in the 1980s was saying that – if the [1980] climate models were right – by about 2030 there would be observable changes in climate that would be impossible to ignore,” Professor Lowe said.

Flooding in Townsville, shortly after bushfires and drought.Credit:AAP

“Now I think you could say that, if anything, the science of the time was being unreasonably cautious,” he said.

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“I think you would have to be in deep denial not to accept that there are unmistakeable signs of climate change.”

Professor Lowe is a member of the Queensland government’s senior climate change body, the Queensland Climate Advisory Council.

It is chaired by Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch, while Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, Natural Resources and Mines Minister Anthony Lynham and Queensland's chief scientist are members. It has met only three times since 2017.

Carbon dioxide levels in the earth's atmosphere.

Brisbane Times requested comment from the office of Queensland’s chief scientist but the request was denied.

Professor Lowe listed coral bleaching, Townsville’s flooding, the Australia-wide heatwaves in January 2019, the unseasonal Queensland bushfires from October to December and the recent fires in Tasmania as examples of extreme weather, triggered by the changing climate.

In December 2018 Queensland's central coast was covered in bushfires one week, then heavy rains.Credit:My Fire Watch and Bureau of Meteorology

Professor Lowe said the Queensland Climate Advisory Council was preparing a strategic "roadmap" on climate change to be released midyear.

Professor Lowe is Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society and the former Head of the School of Science at Griffith University.

In 1996, he produced the first national report on the state of Australia's environment. He is a patron of Sustainable Population Australia.

In 2001, he received the Order of Australia for his contribution to science, technology and the environment. In 2002 he won the Australian government’s Centenary Prize for his work in the environment and the Australian Museum’s Eureka Prize for science.

Professor Lowe said farmers acknowledged Australia’s rainfall patterns had changed and some wineries around South Australia’s McLaren Vale were moving south to Tasmania where temperate weather better suited grapes.

“Some of the winemakers in South Australia and Victoria have been buying properties in Tasmania because they are projecting they will no longer be able to grow their grapes in South Australia or Victoria,” he said.

“So people whose livelihoods depend on responding to the climate are responding.”